Context: Turing Test Can the machine think? What is thinking? OK, can the machine be programmed in such a way that it exhibits behavior that is judged as human-like?
Eliza
Raises ethical issues for psychotherapists but also leads to insights into humans' investment/projection into machines. Surprisingly primitive dialogues "can" produce a human-like effect.
Weizenbaum's specific concerns - misinterpretation:
Some psychiatrists believed Eliza might effectively automate therapy
Users become involved and "anthropomorphize" Eliza.
Overestimation of the success of Eliza in solving problem of generalizing natural language.
Overall - a concern about the "mechanization" of the human.
"I would argue that, however, intelligent machines may be made to be, there are some acts of thought that ought to be attempted only by humans." (373)
And: "Science has become the sole legitimate form of understanding in the common wisdom. When I say that science has been gradually converted into a slow-acting poison, I mean that the attribution of certainty to scientific knowledge by the common wisdom, an attribution now made so nearly universally that it has become a commonsense dogma, has virtually delegitimated all other ways of understanding. People [once] viewed the arts, especially literature, as sources of intellectual nourishment and understanding, but today they arts are perceived largely as entertainments." (375)
Implications for Literature
Follow Weizenbaum, and steer literature away from the machinic ...
Redirect Weizenbaum, and task literature with speaking to and from within the machinic ...
Or ....
Can the machine think? What is thinking? OK, can the machine be programmed in such a way that it exhibits behavior that is judged as human-like?
Eliza
Raises ethical issues for psychotherapists but also leads to insights into humans' investment/projection into machines. Surprisingly primitive dialogues "can" produce a human-like effect.
Weizenbaum's specific concerns - misinterpretation:
Overall - a concern about the "mechanization" of the human.
"I would argue that, however, intelligent machines may be made to be, there are some acts of thought that ought to be attempted only by humans." (373)
And:
"Science has become the sole legitimate form of understanding in the common wisdom. When I say that science has been gradually converted into a slow-acting poison, I mean that the attribution of certainty to scientific knowledge by the common wisdom, an attribution now made so nearly universally that it has become a commonsense dogma, has virtually delegitimated all other ways of understanding. People [once] viewed the arts, especially literature, as sources of intellectual nourishment and understanding, but today they arts are perceived largely as entertainments." (375)
Implications for Digital Culture
Social questions. See "Her", Sherry Turkle on Robot Companions. Or Hayles' "computational turn" and How We Became Posthuman
Implications for Literature
Follow Weizenbaum, and steer literature away from the machinic ...
Redirect Weizenbaum, and task literature with speaking to and from within the machinic ...
Or ....